Now wasn’t that better? Under the lights at the Lamex on Tuesday night, we may just have got our season back on track with a fine win against Swindon Town. We entertain the guys and gals of Notts County this weekend; a fantastic opportunity for us to continue on a path of truth, enlightenment and three points. The brush of change is sweeping through, even if it has 17 new heads and 14 new handles – and this game is your bone fide relegation six-pointer.
Like us, Notts County have been struggling this season – that’s why they are the wrong side of that fateful dotted line. But they’re not as completely hopeless as they were, with the last seven league games giving ’em half their points tally for the season. And they come to us in search of a third straight league win. This ain’t a straightfoward one by any means, but this is no reason to be fearful. After all, we just beat a decent Swindon side.
Our recent record against Notts County stands us in good stead; three straight victories for the Boro’, of which the last two saw us keep a clean sheet. In fact, they’ve only scored twice past us in the last five fixtures between us (all competitions). It’s a handy hoodoo to have – if we can maintain it this weekend, that’d be lovely. But if we can do so without needing an unnerving late goal as has been the case, that’d also be lovely.
We now must retire to our drawing room and prepare our battle fatigues. Take next week’s Everton game out of the equation and we have two crucial – and winnable games – to deal with in the league, starting with Notts County and then Crewe. Theoretically, we could pull level on points with 20th-place-and-therefore-currently-safe Tranmere with victory versus Notts County. Funny how a week in football can change everything, innit?
[expand title=”WE’VE MET BEFORE…”]
| 24 Aug 2013 | A | Sky Bet League One | 1-0 |
| 05 Feb 2013 | H | npower League One | 2-0 |
| 02 Oct 2012 | A | npower League One | 2-1 |
| 22 Feb 2012 | A | npower League One | 0-1 |
| 28 Jan 2012 | H | FA Cup R4 | 1-0 |
| 17 Sep 2011 | H | npower League One | 0-2 |
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[expand title=”REFEREE WATCH”]
Boom, boom, boom – let us hear you say Haywood… Yep, that’s right – our referee for this weekend’s game is Mark Haywood. We go back a good few years with this particular lad, but after first meeting nearly seven years ago, we’ve only had the pleasure of his officiating skills on four occasions. Our record with him in charge could be better, however, with only one win and four goals in those four games.
This season, Mr Haywood has been relatively busy as you’d expect. More familiar with our friends in League Two than anything else this season, he’s popped up in the Championship and League One on the odd occasion. What worries us is his red card count is high – five is a big haul for 20 games and an average of one dismissal every four games. Lucky then, that his last red card came last weekend to fill his quota…
This season for Mark Haywood:
Games: 20 — Yellow: 45 (2.25pg), Red: 5
Our record under Mark Haywood:
P4 W1 D1 L2 F4 A6 — Yellow: 6, Red: 0
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[expand title=”FIFA14 VERDICT”]
Team:
Day; Smith, Jones, Ashton, Hartley; Morais, Heslop, Doughty, Freeman; Akins, Zoko
If you left us in charge of things, your Saturday afternoon would end up being a nervy one. Keeping the same team that started against Swindon seemed the right thing to do, but this one kept us guessing right until the end. We had scares – Notts County hit the post early in the first half – and we never knew if the goal was coming. You can rest easy now knowing a goal did come; Francois Zoko slotting home late on.
FT: Stevenage 1-0 Notts County (Zoko 87′)
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[expand title=”BOOKIE BASHING”]
A risk-free £10 wager with Titan Bet? It is still very much so and you can use that to your heart’s content with 72 markets on offer for the Notts County game. Immediately we’re drawn to the generous 27/20 on a home win, and Over 1.5 Goals at 1/4. If you think we’ll repeat the Swindon trick and triumph 2-0, that’s priced at 12s and it’s 23/20 if you both teams won’t score. Do remember that other bookies are available should you prefer…
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